"We’ve looked around and we think opening between 20 and 25 stores is possible, but that’s going to be very much market and location-dependent,” he tells TTG.
Kirkbright and wife Sally opened their first shop in late 2019 after the couple, who have for the past 17 years run a successful digital marketing agency, decided to venture into the world of travel.
When did they decide to take the leap? While lying on a beach in the Bahamas, of course. "We were completely fresh," Kirkbright recalls. "We had no experience in travel at all, other than travelling a lot.
"We thought travel agencies worked in a similar way to digital and affiliate marketing in the sense that they sell somebody else’s product and get paid for it. Little did we know there’s a great deal more involved!”
The first Sunlounger shop opened in Wisbech in December 2019, four months prior to Covid. A second branch in King’s Lynn followed less than a year later in October 2020, although it was another three years before the third opened in Milton Keynes last November.
Kirkbright acknowledges the team’s stellar service with a nod to the King’s Lynn branch being named among the Top 50 Travel Agencies by TTG for the past two years in the East of England region.
The accolade, he says, is testament to the team’s level of service. "Sally and I pay the bills, but it’s the staff that makes the business,” Kirkbright insists. "It’s really nice for us to see our teams are being recognised.”
So how did Sunlounger – as a relatively new business – not only survive but thrive during the pandemic? Kirkbright says the strength of their marketing business, Chaos, saw them through.
"One of the things we’re most proud of is that we didn’t lose a single member of staff during the pandemic,” he says. "There isn’t a single member of staff who lost a penny of their income. We continued to pay 100% of their salary for the whole period.”
Solidarity with other independents
Looking ahead, Kirkbright tells TTG Sunlounger’s growth will follow a blueprint, while stressing it won’t be rushed for the sake of simply having more stores. "If we stay at three stores this year, then so be it,” he says. “And if we stay at three stores next year, then so be it.
"But if there’s an opportunity to open one, three, five stores in the next 12 months, and if the location and the time is right, we’ll certainly deal with it.”
In terms of locations, Kirkbright says England will be the initial focus, with the couple keen to ensure Sunlounger doesn’t become a business with interests "scattered here, there and everywhere”. They’re keen too to ensure they maintain "a direct interaction" with each shop.
"We want to grow, but we also want to be in that position where both Sally and I can get into the stores regularly and speak to staff,” he continues. “We don’t want to be just a name, we want to be part of the business and work with the business rather than just own it.”
Kirkbright also reveals Sunlounger, a member of the Advantage Travel Partnership, will also look to expand in a way that does not compete with other independents, and will instead look to open in places where the competition comes from big franchises.
"We will never open somewhere where there is already a small, reputable independent agency,” he vows. “Us independent agents are all in the same boat. We don’t want to force somebody out of business – that’s not the way we work."
Sunlounger was highlighted by Advantage as one of its members to watch over the coming years at its recent conference in Cancun amid signs of travel’s high street resurgence continuing.
Advantage said agents were rising "like phoenixes from the ashes" on the high street with nearly one in five members (17%) planning to open new bricks and mortar premises this year.
"Agents are realising there is a void and a market for them," said Advantage chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said. "It feels like there’s one on every corner now. It’s keeping the high street alive – we’d be bold enough to say that."
